Peace Corps Workers Evacuated From Ebola-Stricken Region [Photos]

The worst Ebola outbreak in history has caused the Peace Corp to temporarily remove 340 volunteers from Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone the organization said Wednesday (July 30). More than 670 people have died from the virus since February including one of the top specialist on the virus.

Two American volunteers have since contracted the Ebola, and are being treated in isolation. The Peace Corps sent 102 volunteers to Guinea, 108 to Sierra Leone, and some 130 people to Liberia. It is not clear if, or when the workers will be returned to the countries.

Dr. Sjeik Omar Khan, the doctor who died from ebola less than a week after infection, was well aware of the risk he was taking my trying to save other people’s lives. He has been hailed as a hero for putting his patients first, but before his death Khan expressed fear that he wouldn’t make it. “I am afraid for my life. I must say, because I cherish my life,” he admitted.

Kent Brantley, the American doctor now infected, is optimistic about his fate telling friends, “God is going to delver me from this but even if he doesn’t I have lived my life for him and I have no regrets.”

This week the Center for Disease Control calmed concerns that Ebola could make it’s way to America’s shores. “The agency has been and will continue to closely monitor the outbreak of the virus in collaboration with leading experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of State,” the CDC said in a statement.

An American man who died in Nigeria, is believed to be the first U.S. Ebola victim. Patrick Sawyer, 40, was planning a trip to Minnesota to visit his family next month. Although “highly unlikely,” there is a chance that Sawyer spread the highly contagious to passengers on his flight to Lagos.

Ebola is spread through contact with bodily fluids like, blood. There is no cure for the virus, which claims the lives of up to 90 percent of those infected.